Computer generated graphics are commonly used in various areas of industry, business, education and entertainment. Computer graphics are represented by pixels on a display monitor. However, since the display only contains a finite number of pixels, aliasing may often occur. Aliasing due to having to represent analog data in a digital format, results in a displayed image appearing with jagged edges.
The application of techniques used to reduce aliasing is typically referred to as anti-aliasing. One technique used for full-scene anti-aliasing is known as supersampling. Supersampling is an approach in which an original graphics scene is rendered at a high resolution and subsequently filtered down to the original display resolution. Thus, supersampling essentially shifts the abasing effect up to a higher spatial frequency.
There are, however, performance drawbacks incurred by the computer system while using the supersampling technique. The problem with supersampling is that it requires additional processing and memory storage and bandwidth in order to render an image at higher resolutions, and later filter it down. For example, supersampling two times (2×) in each of an X and Y direction of the display requires four times (4×) the storage and bandwidth. Therefore, an efficient implementation of supersampling without incurring extra memory storage and bandwidth is desired.